Nick Tavares: NFL injuries keep piling up

Today is Sunday, at that means, of course, that it's time for football. Unless you're a quarterback in the NFL, it seems.

NICK TAVARES

Today is Sunday, at that means, of course, that it's time for football. Unless you're a quarterback in the NFL, it seems.

The same way I get geared up for Sunday Night Baseball in the summer (unless it's another five-hour Red Sox/Yankees snooze fest), NBC's Sunday night game is typically a welcome sight, the last vestige of sports before the weekend ends and reality returns.

But tonight's marquee matchup of the Ravens and Steelers will have a little less pull, with Ben Roethlisberger injured and out for Pittsburgh with broken ribs that threatened his heart, thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs.

It's the same story tomorrow night. When the 49ers host the Bears tonight, Jay Cutler won't be behind center for Chicago, and Alex Smith might be absent from San Francisco's schemes as well. Both quarterbacks suffered concussions in Week 10, just the latest dominoes to fall now that the league is taking head injuries as seriously as they should.

It doesn't stop there, though. Michael Vick won't be in the lineup for Philadelphia this week. Running back Fred Jackson already missed Buffalo's game on Thursday with a concussion. That's just a small sample of this week's list, too. Every week, there's a new crop of players who can't leave their room thanks to a concussion, and every year, more players have their careers end and their lives encumbered by brain injuries, sometimes to horrifying conclusions.

Even with Roethlisberger, who suffered an injury below the neck, it all hits on the often-brutal nature of the sport, and how to best curb it enough to keep it exciting while retaining its humanity is not a question simply answered.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, to his credit, has attempted to tone down the nature of the injuries. New regulations for hits, fines and suspensions for helmet-to-helmet hits have at least brought awareness to the issue.

The league needs to do something, and at the least, they've made a start in the past couple of years. But it might be too late. Law suits from former players have piled up, and they're not likely to go away.

Players are bigger, stronger and faster now. Despite any attention-grabbing headlines about awful behavior that seem to scatter across headlines in the offseason, they keep themselves in better shape and better tuned for football season. On top of that, their equipment is better now — pads are harder and stronger, shoes help speed up and strengthen on the push, helmets can absorb and deliver more punishment.

So where is the solution? Do we take away some of the equipment from the players? Do we ban them from the gym for five days a week?

This is about more than toughness, or football being a "man's game," or any of that nonsense. Simply, it's about supporting a sport with a clear conscience. There's a reason the public stopped watching slaves be fed to lions, just as the most gruesome aspects of our culture tend to remain in the underground. It's upsetting. Who wants their Sunday ruined by that?

Goodell has at least tried to address the issue. The hope is there's room for physicality that lives between tough and brutal. The league wants to evolve the game in a way that maintains the edge while removing the inhumanity.

But I don't expect this to get better. I'm not sure how easily that line can be toed. And if the game's best players keep winding up on the sidelines with chilling brain injuries, I don't expect Sunday nights to be the exclusive province of the NFL forever.

Nick Tavares' column appears Sunday in the Standard-Times and at SouthCoastToday.com. He can be reached at nick@nicktavares.com.